Hong Kong Lawmaker ‘Long Hair’ Is Arrested Over Donation

Leung Kwok-hung, center, a lawmaker, was a central figure in the pro-democracy Occupy Central protests that began in late 2014.Credit
Anthony Wallace/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

HONG KONG — An opposition lawmaker in Hong Kong was arrested and charged on Thursday with failing to declare a donation of about $32,000 from Jimmy Lai, an outspoken media magnate who is critical of the Beijing government.

The lawmaker, Leung Kwok-hung, known as Long Hair for his unkempt hairstyle, was accused by Hong Kong anticorruption investigators of concealing the payment, made in 2012, from the city’s legislature. Procedural rules require him to declare such donations.

Mr. Lai, also known as Lai Chee-ying, founded and owns Next Media, which publishes the Apple Daily newspaper and Next Magazine in Hong Kong. Apple Daily also publishes in Taiwan.

Both men were central figures in the pro-democracy Occupy Central protests, which roiled Hong Kong for months starting in late 2014.

Hong Kong is a semiautonomous Chinese territory with its own legislature, the Legislative Council. Elections for the next legislative session will be held in September, and the arrest comes about a month before the start of nominations.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption said in a news release that it arrested Mr. Leung and charged him with misconduct in public office. The agency said Mr. Leung had failed to declare his acceptance of the donation, which was received via Mr. Lai’s associate Mark Simon. The agency added that the case had arisen from a corruption complaint and that the inquiries that followed revealed Mr. Leung’s suspected offense. The commission declined to comment further on Thursday.

Mr. Leung, 60, said in a post on Facebook that commission officials came to his home about 6:30 a.m. on Thursday. He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in district court on Friday for a procedural hearing.

Regarding the money, Mr. Leung said by telephone on Thursday afternoon, “I gave to the party, to a publishing house, I can’t recollect the memory, but I need to talk to a lawyer and defend myself now.” He said he could not discuss the matter further because he had not yet talked to his lawyer.

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He pointed out that the charges came just ahead of nominations for election to the Legislative Council. “It’s almost like a smear, you know,” he said.

“I said before, if the government wants to press charges to anyone, they are capable,” he added.

In an earlier post on Facebook, he wrote, “He who has a mind to beat his dog will easily find his stick.”

Mr. Simon, in an email, said, “Legislator Leung is a uniquely positive presence in Hong Kong, and so as I have no idea what this is all about, it’s best, for this rare occasion, I keep my usually wide-open mouth closed.” He added that he had not been contacted by the anticorruption council.

Legislative rules require lawmakers to declare donations within two weeks, and Mr. Leung has previously been cleared of wrongdoing in relation to other payments that were not immediately reported.

According to a statement he made to a commission of lawmakers investigating the earlier donations, Mr. Leung admitted to receiving about $64,000 from Mr. Lai in 2013 on behalf of the League of Social Democrats, a party with which he is affiliated.

Mr. Leung contended that he had received the cash from Mr. Lai on behalf of the party, not in his capacity as a lawmaker. Last December, the committee sided with Mr. Leung in saying that he had not violated the legislature’s rules.

Mr. Leung has declared receiving donations totaling about $115,000 in the current legislative session, which began in 2012, according to the legislature’s records.

The South China Morning Post, a newspaper in Hong Kong, reported in 2014 that Mr. Lai had donated millions of Hong Kong dollars over several years to opposition lawmakers and democracy advocates, citing computer records leaked online.

Other lawmakers have declared the receipt of donations from Mr. Lai since at least 2007, according to the legislature’s records.

Charlotte Yang contributed research.

A version of this article appears in print on June 24, 2016, on Page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: Hong Kong Lawmaker Arrested Over Donation. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe